Death of The Tag Team

[ryankeast 0]

The Tag Team wrestling scene in the WWF from I'd say 1986 through to 1993/94 was always healthy. Actually I would go further and say it was thriving. Over the years the WWF put a hell of a lot of time and energy into their tag team division. Demolition, LOD, Hart Foundation, The Bulldogs, Brian Busters, The Rockers.....the list goes on. Being in a tag team, in my eyes wasn't seen as an afterthought.

 

Greg Valentine, a former Intercontinental Champion , was placed in the division with up and comer Brutus Beefcake. Earthquake, who six months earlier was one of the most over heels on the roster was paired up with Tugboat Thomas. Million Dollar Man, main stay on the WWF roster for 6-7 years was placed with IRS. What I am trying to say is that instead of leaving talents floundering in the mid card they put them to good use in the tag team division.

 

The scene then died from 94-98. The title scene became an afterthought. Those teams that were about simply didn't cut the mustard, and generally the fans didn't give a shit about the division. Over in WCW Hall and Nash pretty much laid waste to any duo and Eric Bishoff did not feel the tag division was worth investing in.

 

Then at the back end of 97 a new team rose from the lower mid card. They came from no where, they of course were the New Age Outlaws. The Outlaws were insanely over but the division was still contested with makeshift teams and main eventers just thrown together.

 

The division peaked again in 99-2000 when The Hardies, Edge and Christian, Acolytes, The Dudlies and an undercard of teams like Too Cool, T and A, Bull and Bossman gave the division a renaissance.

 

However, here we are in 2008 and the tag team scene is pretty stagnant again in the WWF.

 

So I have a few questions to start up a discussion

 

1. Do you think that the WWF will ever seriously push the division again?

 

2. Do you think we will see another renaissance of the division?

 

3. Why did the mid 90's suck so much? What teams would you have liked to have seen around this time?

 

4. Do you think the draft has had a lot to do with killing the tag team scene?

 

5. Do you think the average fan wants to watch tag team wrestling? Can it still draw? Does it have a place in the modern WWE?

 

6. Who are your favorite tag teams?

 

Discuss

[King Kamala 0]

1. Do you think that the WWE will ever seriously push the division again? It comes and goes. They have brief fits where it looks like the tag team division might make somewhat of a comeback. There was actually a millisecond or two a year or two ago when The Hardy Boyz reunited and they were feuding with Cade and Murdoch and The World's Greatest Tag Team where I almost thought the WWE was serious about bringing it back but that was kind of short-lived. In short, no, I don't think they'll ever seriously push the division long term again. Once every couple years or so, there's a month or two like the one mentioned where it looks like they might bring back the division and then they forget about it.

 

2. Do you think we will see another renaissance of the division? I'm not so sure. It's not like the tag teams they have now are terrible, in fact I like the majority of them but again WWE is so inconsistant about pushing them.

 

3. Why did the mid 90's suck so much? What teams would you have liked to have seen around this time? The short answer is the WWF sucked in general in the mid 90s. However, I will say that the tag team division around '93-'94 was extremely underrated. I think The Quebecers may be the most underrated WWF Tag Team Champs of all time plus you had The Headshrinkers, The Steiner Brothers for a bit, The 123 Kid and Marty Jannetty's short-lived team, and The Smoking Gunns. That was a good time for tag team wrestling. I'm assuming you're talking about when the Godwinns, Bodydonnas, and Smoking Gunns were battling for the WWF Tag Team titles (and Sunny's affection). Yeah, that sucked. With an exception or two, tag team wrestling kind of sucked in general from the time The Quebecers left to the time The New Age Outlaws emerged. As for what teams I would have liked to have seen, I can't think of any teams off the top of my head that I would have liked them to bring in but I wish I could have seen more of Furnas and Lafon. I think there were injury problems there though so hence why they didn't go so far after their inital push.

 

4. Do you think the draft has had a lot to do with killing the tag team scene? Definitely. I'd argue that even up till '02, the tag team division was in somewhat decent shape but the draft broke up pretty much every one of the WWE's tag teams except for Billy and Chuck. So they ended up facing a lot of makeshift tag teams and while I don't have problems with the occasional makeshift team getting a shot at the Tag Titles when it's happening every month, it gets old fast.

 

5. Do you think the average fan wants to watch tag team wrestling? Can it still draw? Does it have a place in the modern WWE? Sure, quality, well booked wrestling will always have a place in WWE.

 

6. Who are your favorite tag teams? Oh man, where to start? For WWF/E, I like The Rockers, Demolition, The Hart Foundation, The Headshrinkers, The Steiner Brothers, Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith, The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, London and Kendrick.

 

 

[ryankeast 0]

Totally agree with you on the tag team scene in 1994. It was not until 95 until the shit teams started to prosper.

 

With regards to The Quebecers - I was a huge mark for them back in the day, along with Johnny Polo. Howevre their 98 run did leave a bad taste in the mouth. They were bought in as jobbers and I think it tarnished their "legacy" that they had during the mid nineties. I remember a random Godwins / Quebecers match at one of the 98 cards......think it was No Way Out Of Texas. Very strange pairing as I'm sure both were heels at the time. They killed the crowd. Never saw their WCW run. Were they pushed at all there or were they simply Saturday Night fodder.

 

I really hope the tag scene hots up again. I am really digging Miz and Morrison at the moment.

[King Kamala 0]

The Quebecers were The Amazing French Canadians in WCW and they were managed by Colonial Robert Parker. They weren't total jobbers but they were only around for a couple of months. All I can remember from their run is some sort of feud with Harlem Heat and the fact that they were Arn Anderson's opponents in his last match. But Jacques did get a house show win over Hogan during that time so it wasn't a complete loss.

 

I think if they unified the tag team titles, it might have a shot at being decent again. As it stands now, there aren't enough good tag teams for two divisions

[King Kamala 0]

Whoops

[majormayhem1 0]

When you examine the last two big waves of popularity (1985-1990 and 1996-2002) you'll see that the tag teams that were involved were just as responsible for the surge as the main eventers. I've been watching the early Survivor Series tapes lately and in 1987 and 1988 there was a 10 team elimination match. Upon taking a closer look at those teams I found that half had been champions and the others were legitimate contenders for the title. Then you had lower tier teams like the Conquistadors and Young Stallions. An I-C tag title would have been great back then. What is the difference between then and now? The fans. In 1988, The WWF could get away with having gimmicky tag teams. But, as we've seen with the Highlanders and Deuce and Domino, fans aren't willing to accept those type of teams anymore. They want to see Mega-Power type teams ie. Shawn Micheals/Stone Cold, Shawn Micheals/Triple H, Edge/Orton, MVP/MattHardy, etc.

[joshtothemaxx 0]

I agree with majormayhem... when you have mega-power teams like Undertaker/Kane along with legendary tag teams like the Hardyz running around, how could anyone possible take Londrick, Deuce and Domino, or the Highlanders seriously?

 

I think something needs to be done and FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH that defines certain teams, specifically Cade & Murdoch and Londrick. The WWE keeps teasing a breakup of these 2, but never pulls the trigger. The average fan doesn't know a lot of London or Kendrick individually, and only knows Cade and Murdoch apart because one is a "cowboy" and one a "redneck".

 

With all that said though, I am REALLY digging Miz and Morrison right now. They have that "it" factor, and even though their gimmicks are different, they're similar enough to completely work. Same goes for their style. Miz can work that bruiser style while Morrison does his insane flips and kicks... kind of like Miz:Matt::Morrison:Jeff.

 

The team that I really really really wanna see take off is Cryme Tyme.

[Timmy8271 0]

1. Do you think that the WWF will ever seriously push the division again? No. There's too many makeshift tag teams like Carlito/Santino, Holly/Rhodes, Wang/Moore that just don't work. WWE got lucky with Miz/Morrison as they seem over.

 

2. Do you think we will see another renaissance of the division? It was take another great charismatic tag team and merging of the tag titles. Cryme Tyme should be tag champs. You have Miz/Morrison and London/Kendrick. That right there could be a saving grace for the tag teams. But WWE decides to give another chance to Bob Holly? Why?

 

3. Why did the mid 90's suck so much? What teams would you have liked to have seen around this time? I wish WWE would have kept the Steiner brothers longer. A Face Steiners vs Heel Men on a Mission feud could have been good. I think they also totally dropped the ball on the Heavenly Bodies. I loved that tag team in SMW and I don't think they got a fare shake in WWE. WWF was too cartoon like in the mid 90's and that hurt everything, including Tag teams.

 

4. Do you think the draft has had a lot to do with killing the tag team scene? Oh yes. Splitting up the Dudley's at the first draft was just so stupid. Same thing with the Hardy's.

 

5. Do you think the average fan wants to watch tag team wrestling? Can it still draw? Does it have a place in the modern WWE? Sure it does. But like I said eariler, Makeshift tag teams don't work except on rare occasions. I think if they merged the tag titles and had traveling champions, it would work.

 

6. Who are your favorite tag teams? Steiners, LOD, Hardy's, Edge/Christian, Los Gringos Locos.

[Papacita 0]

I think one of the bigger problems with tag teams--and the initial post kinda gets at this--is that rather than presenting the Champions as the best tag teams that companies have to offer, the belts come off to the fans as token titles for weaker wrestlers to attain, and as long as the belts are presented in this light, you're going to have problems drawing. The night Austin and HBK beat Owen and Bulldog for the tag titles was one of my favorite moments ever because despite being arguably the two top faces in the company at the time, I really didn't expect them to be able to win. Now, it's conceivable to see HHH or John Cena beat both champions by themselves, and if they're paired up against Londrick or whomever the Champs are right now, it's almost a guaranteed victory.

 

As good as Cena and HHH are individually, they shouldn't be able to just waltz into a match against the champs and go over on the first try...they're the World Tag Champs for a reason. I could accept seeingLondon and Kendrick job to them individually...even get squashed, but when it comes to tag stuff, they should have a noticeable advantage.

 

Another thing that's bothered me for years about WWE is that it seems like every tag team they come up with will eventually get a run with the belt. One reason that the belts would seem so important back in the day because teams like the Rockers, as great as they were and for as long as they were together, weren't able to win them. One thing I really liked about the handling of the Hardys in 99-00 was that despite being the one of the most over teams on the roster, IIRC it was more than a year between their first and second title reigns, so when they finally beat E&C, it seemed like a big thing. ROH has been pretty good in this area as well over the past couple of years. It bothered me a bit to see teams like Bull and Goodfather, La Resistance, the Basham Brothers (their first reign at least), and others come right in and just pick up the belts seemingly for no reason other than the fact that they were paired up and it was expected of them. It doesn't seem like a challenge for anybody to come in and win them, and the titles' image suffers as a result.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Since we are discussing tag team greats, I thought that I would post this:

 

ALL-TIME GREAT TAG TEAM STAR BOBBY EATON HOSPITALIZED

by Mike Johnson @ 9:50 PM on 4/15/2008

 

"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, who was one of the founding members of the Midnight Express tag team and held numerous Tag Team championships as well as being a former WCW World TV champion, is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a Kingsport, TN hospital with a number of health issues. We've confirmed he is hospitalized but not the nature of the illness.

 

On behalf of everyone associated with PWInsider.com, we'd like to take a moment to wish Eaton, universally considered one of the nicest people in the wrestling business, a quick and painless recovery.

 

Hopefully it is something that Eaton can overcome and put behind him as soon possible.

[cabbageboy 0]

1. Do you think that the WWF will ever seriously push the division again?

I think it could happen at some point, if anything I've noticed a renewed emphasis on the Raw tag scene, though the SD/ECW scene is still fairly mediocre.

 

2. Do you think we will see another renaissance of the division?

It's certainly possible, all there needs to be are some up and coming guys who gel as a team and it's time to let guys improve their tandem moves. Too much tag wrestling these days is of the same variety, without the fun double team offense that makes tag wrestling enjoyable.

 

3. Why did the mid 90's suck so much? What teams would you have liked to have seen around this time?

Honestly it was just that the teams all dried up. LOD and the Steiners were MIA during this time period until they resurfaced in 1996-97. Some teams broke up like the Rockers and Harts so that someone could go solo. The teams that replaced them were largely lame or just weren't connecting with fans or having great matches.

 

4. Do you think the draft has had a lot to do with killing the tag team scene?

Eh, it's more that WWE sees more in one guy in a team and wants the team to split so they can push someone solo. This would happen regardless of a draft.

 

5. Do you think the average fan wants to watch tag team wrestling? Can it still draw? Does it have a place in the modern WWE?

It would have a place but the style of wrestling is too restrictive. Tag wrestling can becomes terribly formulaic at times (face in peril, false tags, ref didn't see it, that BS). It could still draw but it takes the workers to do it, the feud to compel fans, and a more crisp and non formula ring style.

 

6. Who are your favorite tag teams?

Owen/Bulldog, British Bulldogs, Rockers, Sabu/RVD, Demolition.